While doing research for the creator of the short film, I viewed many existing short films to get an idea of conventions commonly used in short films. One that was pretty common was the use of only one location. Most of the short films I viewed, such as The Barbershop, One Minute Time Machine, and The Gunslinger, all take place in one single spot. This is likely to keep the plot relatively simple, but even more complex films, such as Eagles are Turning People into Horses, still stay in one spot. This is a convention that I strove to break within in my own film. I felt that a short film that explores multiple locations would both be more interesting visually, as well as leading to a slightly more complex plot. Not Quite Write starts out in an office scene, where the main character, Brian, is getting a lecture from his boss for not having written anything recently. The next scene then takes place in a cafe, where Brian is trying to come up with something. It's there where he meets Alex, who then, after talking for a bit, leave together for the third location, with is outside in the town. After Brian's discovery of Alex's true intentions, and his subsequential kidnapping, that he ends up in the fourth location, the thugs' house. After escaping, we go back to the first location, the office, to wrap everything up. Although some short films that are more complex may have a second location, the use of four subverts the convention of using minimal locations in short films.
The target audience for Not Quite Write is the same demographic that I fall in. The film is marketed towards teens and young adults. Characteristics of pieces that often are enjoyed by this demographic are stories that are often intense, but broken up with comedic moments. I tried marketing and stylizing the film much in a similar way to Baby Driver, a film that I had researched it's advertising techniques. I tried to have some mystery behind the characters, for example Alex, who's intentions are not clear until over half way through the film. This is common in movies that apply to the same demographic, such as Baby Driver or Pulp Fiction. The plan for the social media page was to use some humor and trends to attract the online users of the younger target audience. I feel that this was an area that I could have improved upon. I feel that I could have benefitted from playing more attention to current online trends into order to bring in more of the younger audience.
The brand that I wanted to create with my short film was one that felt almost a little surrealist. There is no specific place where this film takes place, nor a specific time period. While some scenes in the piece look like they could take place today, such as the outside scenes in the city. Other scenes, such as in the diner, look like they could be taking place in the 50s or 60s. Then, the office could easily take place in the 90s or early 2000s. The purpose of this was to keep the story less grounded in reality, and help make the quite absurd plot feel more fitting. Another part of the brand was common use of less seriousness within the film. The very beginning graphic of the short film states "Warning: The following picture was created by Zachary Golomb in it's entirety". At the end of the credits, a graphic says "dont ask how i came up with this". The plot of the short film is one that is honestly kind of absurd, so I decided to tap into that. I think something I could have improved upon looking back is having more of these elements in my social media. This less serious and more fun theme for my brand is something that markets towards my target audience of younger people very well, and I should have capitalized on that more.
Although my film does not really target any specific social groups, it does subtly cover some social issues. The short film features a female lead character in the drug business. This is something that is very uncommon to see in current media. In all of the most popular pieces of media, such as Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Narcos, and Ozark, this almost never seen. The short film does not have much representation for many social groups. However, the main character, Brian, being a writer does have some real life connotations. It highlights some of the difficulties that writers can face currently. In 2023, there were many long tern writers' strikes due to the poor conditions of writers all across the media industry. Writers all across the United States took measures such as going on strikes for several months, while the writer's guild attempted negotiations. Now, while writers don't tend to take as extreme measures as Brian does in the short film, it still highlights some of the difficulties that people in the profession may face. 
No comments:
Post a Comment